The Fiji Aquifer - 450 Year Old Water

Beneath the Yaqara Valley floor on the island of Viti Levu lies a vast artesian aquifer, a huge volcanic chamber encapsulated by the rock walls of a collapsed crater. This aquifer was a great discovery — existing as it does in a dry valley on the northern tip of Viti Levu. Above the 4,000-ft. mist-shrouded peaks of the Nakauvadra Mountains, temperatures are always cool. Clouds bearing a tremendous load of moisture gather here and quickly reach their dew point, dissolving in rain that falls on the volcanic highlands throughout the year.

From these peaks, rain water follows gravity on a long journey to the aquifer. Here it remains confined, straining to reach the surface in a naturally pressurized, sealed chamber that protects the water from all outside influence.

Carbon dating tells us this water fell as rain more than 450 years ago — 200 years before the Industrial Revolution. And it has been percolating ever since through layers of silica, basalt and sandstone. The result is a perfect natural filtration system, so perfect that municipal water systems try to emulate this kind of formation when designing water treatment plants.